How The State Of Georgia Moves On

Jan 18

It has been a rough start to 2018 for football fans in the state of Georgia as we all know.

Within the past 365 days of our football lives, there have been many ups but even bigger downs. In February of 2017, the Atlanta Falcons were on a high that the fanbase had never experienced before, a trip to the Super Bowl. We all know how that turned out, one of the biggest heartbreaks in sports history. Fast forward to January 2018, things are beginning to look up for football within the state lines. The Bulldogs are entrenched in a college football playoff and are headed to the National Championship while the Falcons are headed into their own playoff game. It was all looking up for the Bulldogs, they get to play the National Championship in their own backyard at Mercedes Benz Stadium in Atlanta. As we all know too well, disappointment in the final moments of the game again. At this point in time, both the Falcons and Bulldogs lost championship games without trailing for a single second of the game. No sports fan deserves that much agony in their entire life, but football fans in Georgia got a double dose. Meanwhile, the Falcons are beginning to look hot in their first playoff game and head into Philadelphia as the first six seed ever to be favored against a one seed. Again, a crash and burn in the final moments of the game. Fans are numb to the pain at this point, its the same old Atlanta sports collapse. But how does the team react and where do they go from here?

On twitter, essentially a sports blog for sports fans, the lash back was what you expected. Fans are obviously angry, upset, emotional, and are looking for answers as to why their team could let this happen. For the Falcons, the blame was put on the team, its players, and its coaches. However the Bulldogs blame was more centered on poor officiating in the game and rightfully so.

The Falcons approach to moving on past this disaster in Philadelphia comes a little easier as this was not the biggest collapse they have dealt with. The Falcons moved on in a graceful manner on social media by essentially letting the players speak for them. There was no need for the Falcons to come out and tweet that they will be back and stronger than ever because that is what we should expect them to say, we want to know what the players are thinking after such a crucial loss. The Falcons did an exceptional job of letting the players air out the room and the players delivered. Several of the players thanked the fans for their support and promised better results in the future and that they would work tirelessly to make sure that such a thing never happens to us again. This allowed fans to have continued belief in the team because the players themselves were taking the heat and seem to be using it as motivation. So the Falcons official twitter turned the attention back on the players as well by highlighting individual awards and accomplishments. The Falcons execution of the recovery of the fan base was phenomenal, let the players do the talking because talking for them takes the meaning out of it.

The Bulldogs however took a different approach. They sort of have to because of NCAA rules and regulations about players tweeting and things of that nature. However, the UGA football twitter account seems to have gone quiet for the most part. They too are letting fans mourn on their own but they don’t have players there to alleviate the pain directly on their account. Instead the Bulldogs turned the focus to honoring the players that are moving on to the National Football League and giving them their well deserved credit for helping the program get to the National Championship in the first place. They also had a few retweets about Dawgs in the pros and things of that nature but for the most part they have been quiet on twitter.

So this poses the question, would you rather see the players tweeting about how they will be back and better than ever next year or would you rather not see much at all about the team and move on by almost forgetting about it?

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2 Comments

Kelly Pagano

January 17, 2018at 6:29 pm

Interesting perspective here- I had never really thought about how much social media can influence the perceptions of a sports team, especially after the big losses we’ve experienced here in Georgia. I think I would like to see the team and players actively facing an upset and building back the confidence. I would feel more assured as a fan that the whole team is ready for bigger things.

Daniel Mathis

January 17, 2018at 7:13 pm

I’m not the biggest football fan in the world, I mostly follow it because of its importance to so many friends and so we all have something to talk about. However, when game times comes it’s easy to get excited, and following the team and the sport is interesting.

It seemed like a fate of destiny that the Bulldogs went to the national championship in the luxurious new Mercedez-Benz stadium when Atlanta is on a meteoric rise and the front-runner to receive the new Amazon headquarters. To me, the losses almost seem like a premonition that Atlanta won’t receive the new headquarters and instead the reigning champion like NYC would receive it instead.

It does seem more cathartic to be able to have the Bulldogs players engage on twitter so fans can thank them (or vent towards them), and it would be nice if the NCAA would allow that.